Can opener



Nov. 23, 1 H. .LTALGE ETAL CAN OPENER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 4, 1952 INVENTOR$ BY 527/21? 5 Awe/er Nov. 23, 1954 H, J. TALGE ETAL CAN OPENER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 4, 1952 INVENTOR5. fie 72 /ge Fmw .Afi rev" United States Patent ()fiice 2,694,855 Patented Nov. 23, 1954 CAN OPENER Henry J. Talge, Kansas City, Mo., and Frank E. Aberer, Kansas City, Kans., assignors to John C. Hockery, Kansas City, Mo., as trustee Application August 4, 1952, Serial No. 302,548

16 Claims. (Cl. 30-9) The present invention relates in general to can openers, and it deals more particularly with can openers of the type adapted to be fixedly mounted on a stationary support.

An important object of the invention is to provide a can opener which can be mounted either on a vertical support, such as a wall, or a horizontal support such as a table; and which can be used equally well in either position.

To this end, a subsidiary object is to provide a can opener having a mechanism-carrying portion which is swiveled to the mounted portion to permit adjustment of the mechanism to a predetermined operating position, regardless of whether the unit is mounted on a vertical or horizontal support, the can always being received in a predetermined upright position which permits opening of the can without spilling its contents.

A feature of the invention resides in the novel manner in which the aforementioned swivel action is obtained, as well as in the means for locking the mechanism-carrying portion of the can opener in adjusted position relative to the mounted portion.

Another object is to provide a can opener having selfcontained means for releasably attaching same to any fiat surface without brackets, screws or any other accessory device whereby it can be secured to the surface quickly and easily, can be removed and shifted to a new mounting location just as quickly and easily and never defaces the surface or leaves behind a telltale mark when moved to a new location. This is accomplished by means of a built-in suction element having means for actuating or releasing same to make or break the suction, as desired.

Other and further objects of the invention, together with the features of novelty whereby the objects are achieved, will appear in the course of the following description.

In the accompanying drawings which form a part of the specification and are to be read in conjunction therewith, and in which like reference numerals are employed to indicate like parts of the various views:

Fig. l is a side elevational view of a can opener embodying our invention showing same mounted on a table top or other horizontal surface;

Fig. 2 is a front elevational View of same;

Fig. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the can opener;

Fig. 4 is a side elevational view similar to Fig. 1 but showing the can opener mounted on a wall or other vertical surface, and parts being broken away for purposes of illustration;

Fig. 5 is an elevational view on an enlarged scale of the opposite side of the can opener;

Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 6-6 of Fig. 5 in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 7-7 of Fig. 5 in the direction of the arrows; and

Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional view on enlarged scale taken along the line 88 of Fig. 1 in the direction of the arrows.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, our can opener has an elongate body member or support 10 stamped from heavy sheet metal, one end of the body being riveted or otherwise secured to a rigid circular base 12. The base is dished to receive a flexible rubber suction cup or disk 14 having a central stem 16 that extends through apertures 18 and is hinged at 16a to an operating lever 20. The lever has a camming edge 20a which is held seated against the base portion of the can opener body by means of a coiled compression spring 22 encircling the stem 16.

When the lever 20 is swung by hand in the direction of the dotted arrow (Fig. 4) to an erect position relative to the base, spring 22 urges the center of the suction cup outwardly so that it assumes a substantially flat condition; when, on the other hand, the lever is returned to the position illustrated, the center of the suction cup is drawn inwardly as shown, while the rim of base 12 prevents the margin of the disk 14 from following so that it assumes a dished shape. Thus, by pressing the disk while flat against a flat surface and then drawing its center inwardly by manipulation of the lever, the suction created between the disk and surface is effective to firmly attach the body of the can opener to the surface for support. It can, however, be detached at will simply by shifting the lever 20 to flatten the disk and release the suction. The disk is provided with a small tab 14a by which its edge can be lifted at one point to break any remnant suction that may exist upon flattening of the disk, thereby to facilitate removal of the device from the support to which it has been attached.

When mounted as described, the body member 10 projects outwardly from the support and comprises a shank portion 10a which for strength and rigidity is slightly V-shaped in transverse cross section; this terminates in a fiat generally circular head portion 1012 that is centrally apertured at 10c and braced by a marginal flange 10d joining the head and shank portions.

Abutting one face of the fiat head portion is a swivel plate 24, the shape of which may best be seenin Figs. 3 and 5. This contains a circular aperture 24a registering with aperture 100 in the head, and a circular plug 26 received in the apertures forms a bearing upon which plate 24 can turn in its own plane relative to the head. The plug also serves as an eccentric sleeve bearing, as will be explained presently, and its thickness is equal to, or only slightly greater than, the combined thickness of head 10b and plate 24, as indicated in Fig. 6. A thin disk 28 and the hub of a lever 30 are secured to opposite faces of the plug by rivets 32; as shown, these oppositely disposed end members are enlarged to overlie the outer faces of the plate and head around the margin of apertures 24a and 10c, so they hold the plate and head face to face, while permitting the aforementioned rotation of the swivel plate relative to the head.

Flange 10d serves as a stop limiting this rotation to an arc of approximately and the plate 24 is adapted to be locked in either limit position by means of a latch or detent 34 pivoted to the plate at 34a and cooperating with notches Me and 10 in the outer margin of the head. A spring 36 between the plate and latch lever always urges the free end of the latter toward the margin of the head to seat same in one of said notches when it is in register therewith; however, by pressing on the bent-over thumb tab 340, the latch can be lifted out of a notch against the tension of the spring to permit turning of the plate 24 through 90 or to its other limit position. As may best be seen in Fig. 8, spring 36 is received in a struck-out semi-cylindrical pocket 34b in the latch and extends into a registering aperture 24b in the plate 24, the opposite side of which aperture is covered by an auxiliary plate 38 to hold the spring in place.

Plate 38 is mounted on plate 24 in face-to-face relation by means of rivets 40 and 42, the former extending through registering holes 380 and 24c at the forward ends of the plates and the latter extending through holes 38d and 24d near the rear. It will be noted that the hole 38d is vertically elongated to permit limited up-and-down movement of the rear end of plate 38 about the forward rivet 40 as a hinge. It is always urged downwardly however by-a coiled compression spring 44 confined between the plates within the confronting semi-cylindrical pockets formed by the struck-out portions 246 and 38a of the plates whereby plate 38 normally occupies the position illustrated in Fig. 5.

Plate 38 contains a large aperture 38a in which disk 28 is located. As shown in Figs. 3 and 5, the aperture is shaped to provide a stop shoulder 38b cooperating with a radial lug 28b on the disk in order to limit rotation of the latter in one direction. Lever 30 isprovided with a flange 30b which cooperates. with the upper edge of plate 24 to limit rotation of the plug 26 and attached disk 28 inthe opposite direction. They thus can turn approximately 180 in either direction, and between the two limits, the disk and attached plug 26 are freely rotatable at all times by manipulation of the hand lever 30, aperture 38:: affording ample clearance around disk 28 to permit this.

Above aperture 381:, plate 38 has an outwardlydished boss portion 38 carrying a downwardly 1nclined spindle 45, and this in turn has a cutter wheel 46- rotatably journaled thereon. Forwardly and rearwardly of the zone of action of this cutter wheel are a pair of fixed shoulder members 48 and 49 adapted to engage the upper rim of a can to stabilize it during the cutting operation, as will be described presently.

It can now be seen that plate 24 together with its auxiliary plate 38 forms a swivel carrier for the cutter wheel, by virtue of which the wheel can be shifted through an arc of approximately 90 about the axis of the plug 26 as a center, and can be locked in either limit position; even when the carrier is thus locked, however, the cutter can move slightly in a direction generally radial to said axis by virtue of the manner in which the auxiliary plate is hinged at 48 to the main swivel plate.

Below the cutter wheel is a serrated feed wheel 50 which is screwthreadedly secured to one end of a shaft 52 and rotatable by a hand crank 54 secured to the opposite end. The shaft is journaled in a sleeve-bearingv 56 extending through registering apertures in the disk 28, the circular plug 26 and the hub of lever 30, this sleeve being rigid with the plug 26 as by having a force fit in the aperture extending therethrough. A coiled compression spring 58 between the crank 54 and the hub of lever 50 exerts an axial thrust on the shaft 52, always urging the feed wheel 50 toward the exposed face of disk 28, a washer or shim 60 being interposed between the two however to reduce frictional resistance to turning of the feed wheel.

As will be seen from the drawings, sleeve 56 is offset from the center of plug 26 so that the axis of shaft 52 is eccentrically positioned relative to the axis of the plug. Thus, referring to Fig. 5, when the lever .30 is in the position illustrated by solid lines, feed wheel 50 occupies a raised position wherein its upper margin overlaps the lower margin of the cutter wheel 46 and meshes in the annular groove in the latter; on the other hand, by turning lever 30 clockwise to the position shown by dotted linesan operation facilitated by provision of a knob 30a on the free end of the lever--the eccentric 26 is turned through approximately 180 causing feed wheel 50 tomove in an are or orbit away from the cutter wheel, down to its dotted line position. The center of this are, of course, coincides with the axis about which the cutter wheel carrying plate 24 is adapted to turn, so it will be seen that the carrying members for both wheels are in effect swiveled to turn about the same axis. As previously mentioned, rotation of the plug in one direction under control of lever 30 is limited by the lug 28b and stop shoulder 38b; and in the opposite direction a flange 3012 on the lever engages the upper margin of plate 24 to act as a stop.

The operation of our can opener will for the most part be obvious from the foregoing description. By means of the suction cup mounting arrangement, the body can be secured to any fiat surface; if this be a table top or other horizontal surface, the body will, of course, stand upright therefrom as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 While if it is a wall or other vertical surface, the body will project outwardly therefrom as in Fig. 4.

Regardless of whether the body be upright or horizontal, the swivel plate 24 can be adjusted to the generally horizontal position illustrated and will be retained in that position by the spring-biased latch or detent 34. Thus, if the unit is table-mounted, plate 24 is turned so that the latch engages in notch 100 (see Fig. 1) while if it is wall-mounted, the plate is turned so that the latch engages in notch 16 (see Fig. 4). The latch can, of course, be released by pressing on the thumb tab 340 to permit turning plate 24 from one of these positions to the other.

To open a can, lever 3t) "is swung to the position indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 5, which separates the feed wheel from the cutter wheel and permits insertion of the upper can flange or head into the space between the two. Then lever 30 is returned to its solid line position, causing the feed wheel to bear against the underside of the can bead and lift it into the annular groove in the cutter wheel, whereupon the latter pierces the lid of the can just inside of the bead. The can bead now is gripped firmly between the two wheels so that the can is supported by the can opener. It is stabilized and held in a favorable position for the cutting operation by means of the shoulders 48 and 49 which engage the upper flange of the can forwardly and rearwardly of the cutter wheel to prevent tilting, together with a rest or flange 38g which engages the side wall of the can directly below the cutter wheel. Referring to Fig. 2, attention is directed to the fact that the can is held in a position offset from the base of the can opener so that in the case of a tall can it will clear the base as well as the edge of the table on which the can opener is mounted.

Crank 54 now is turned to rotate the feed wheel 50 and thereby advance the can rim relative to the cutter wheel to sever the lid from the body of the can. When this has been done, lever 30 can be swung back down to its dotted line position (Fig. 5) to separate the two wheels and release the can from the can opener.

it will be remembered that the cutter wheel carrying plate 38 is pivoted at 48 to the main plate 24 so that its rear end can move up and down a limited distance as permitted by the elongated slot 38d; it is always biased downwardly, however, by spring 44 which is quite strong. Now, during the initial lid-piercing operation, as lever 30 is forced back to the position shown by solid lines in Fig. 5, the can exerts a considerable upward thrust on the cutter wheel. This may be sufficient to lift the rear end of plate 38 against the tension of spring 44 if the lid resists piercing, which is to say that the thrust is absorbed by the spring and as the latter becomes increasingly compressed (see dotted lines, Fig. 7) the additional downward force it exerts on the plate 38, as transmitted to the cutter wheel, cooperates with the oppositely directed force exerted on the can by lever 30 through the feed wheel to elfect piercing of the lid. Engagement of the lower end of aperture 38d with the rivet 42 limits the amount that the spring can be compressed and provides a direct connection for transmitting the thrust of lever 30 to the cutter wheel in the case of lids that are ditficult to pierce.

When the lid has been pierced, spring 44 causes cutter wheel 46 to exert a downward thrust on the rim of the can, maintaining the can flange in firm frictional contact with the feed wheel to insure proper advancing of the can upon turning of the feed wheel by crank 54. As the can seam passes between the two wheels in the course of said advance, plate 38 can bow slightly away from plate 24 in the region between its two points of attachment, 40 and 42, to permit the slight separational movement of the wheels necessary to allow passage of the seam Without undue strain on the parts of the mechanism. Such passage sometimes also imposes an upward thrust on the cutter wheel in which event spring 44 will yield to relieve the pressure and permit the seam to clear the cutting region without requiring the operator to apply materially greater force on the hand crank 54 in order to advance the can at this point in the operation of the device.

Thus, it will be seen that we have provided a can opener which is readily adapted to be mounted on either a table or a wall and that our invention is one well adapted to attain all of the ends and objects hereinbefore set forth, together with other advantages which are obvious and which are inherent to the apparatus.

It will be understood that certain features and subcombinations are of utility and may be employed without reference to other features and subcombinations. This is contemplated by and is within the scope of the appended claims.

Inasmuch as many possible embodiments of the invention may be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

v1. In a can opener, a body, means on said body for releasably securing same to either a vertical or horizontal support, a rotatable plug journaled in said body, a rotatable shaft journaled in the plug, the axes of the plug and shaft being laterally spaced from one another, means for turning said plug a limited amount in either direction thereby to shift said shaft relative to said body, a spindle, complementary can cutter elements on said shaft and spindle, a carrier for said spindle swivelly mounted on said body to turn about the axis of said plug whereby said spindle is movable in an arc about such axis, and means for immobilizing said carrier relative to said body with the spindle in any desired one of a plurality of positions in said are.

2. In a can opener, a stationary body member, a rotatable plug journaled in said body member, a rotatable shaft journaled in the plug, laterally spaced from one another, means for turning said plug a limited amount in either direction thereby to shift said shaft relative to the body member, a spindle, complementary can cutter elements on said shaft and spindle, a carrier member for said spindle swivelly mounted on said body member to turn about the axis of said plug whereby said spindle is movable in an arc about such axis, a plurality of spaced-apart notches in one of said members, and a spring-biased detent on the other member for engaging in any one of said notches to lock 2:

fl1e swivel member in any one of certain predetermined positions relative to the body member.

3. In a can opener, a stationary body, journaled in said body, a rotatable shaft journaled in the plug, the axes of the plug and shaft being laterally spaced from one another, means for turning said plug a limited amount in either direction thereby to shift said shaft relative to the body, a spindle, complementary can cutter elements on said shaft and spindle, a carrier for said spindle swivelly mounted on said body to turn about the axis of said plug whereby said spindle is movable in an are about such axis, and means for immobilizing said carrier relative to said body with the spindle in any desired one of a plurality of positions in said are.

4. A can opener as in claim 3 wherein said immobilizing means comprises cooperating latch elements on said carrier and body respectively.

5. In a can opener of the type having a cutter wheel and a cooperating feed wheel to engage the can and drive a rotatable plug same, a body adapted to be mounted on either a generally vertical or generally horizontal support, a pair of members rotatably mounted on said body to turn about the same axis, releasable latching mechanism comprising cooperating latch elements on one of said members and on said body respectively for locking said one member in either of two predetermined positions relative to said body, said cutter wheel and said feed wheel being carried by the respective ones of said members, each wheel being rotatably mounted on its carrying member in a position eccentric to said axis, means for turning said other member a fraction of a revolution in either direction about said axis for shifting the wheel carried thereby toward and away from the other wheel, and a crank connected to one of said wheels for rotating same relative to its carrying member.

6. In a can opener of the type having a cutter wheel and a cooperating feed wheel to engage the can for driving same, a body adapted to be mounted on either a generally vertical or generally horizontal support as desired, a pair of members rotatably mounted on said body to turn about the same axis, releasable latching mechanism comprising cooperating latch elements on one of said members and on said body respectively for locking said one member in either of two predetermined positions relative to said body, stop means limiting the rotation of the other member relative to said one member to less than one full revolution, said cutter wheel and feed wheel being carried by the respective ones of said members, each wheel being rotatably mountd on its carrying member in a position eccentric to said axis, means for turning said other member in either direction about said axis for shifting the wheel carried thereby toward and away from the other wheel, and a crank connected to one of said wheels for rotating same relative to its carrying member.

7. In a can opener of the type having a cutter wheel the axes of the plug and shaft being same, a stationary body,

and a cooperating feed wheel to engage the can for driving a pair of members rotatably mounted on said body to turn about the same axis, means operative when one of said members is turned to any desired one of a plurality of positions relative to said body to immobilize said one member in such position, said cutter wheel and said feed wheel being carried by the respective ones of said members, each wheel being rotatably mounted on its carrying member in a position eccentric to said axis, means for turning the other one of said members a fraction of a revolution in either direction about said axis for shifting the wheel carried thereby toward and away from the other wheel, and a crank connected to one of said Wheels for rotating same relative to its carrying member.

8. In a can opener of the type having a cutter wheel and a cooperating feed wheel to engage the can, a stationary body having an opening therethrough, a carrier beside the body and having a registering opening therethrough, a shaft extending through said openings, an eccentric sleeve encircling said shaft and supporting same, said sleeve being journaled in said openings whereby it is supported by the body and supports the carrier for rotation on the sleeve relative to the body, releasable means for immobilizing said carrier in any desired one of a plurality of different angular positions relative to the body, one of said wheels being rotatably mounted on said carrier, the other wheel being secured to said shaft to turn therewith upon rotation of the shaft in said sleeve, and means for turning the sleeve relative to the body and the immobilized carrier to move said other wheel toward or away from said one wheel.

9. A can opener as in claim 8 having cooperating stop elements on said sleeve and carrier, respectively, limiting rotation of said sleeve to less than one full revolution in either direction.

10. In a can opener of the type having a cutter wheel and a cooperating feed wheel to engage the can, a stationary body having an opening therethrough, a carrier beside the body and having a registering opening therethrough, a shaft extending through said openings, an eccentric sleeve encircling said shaft and supporting same, said sleeve being journaled in said openings whereby it is supported by the body and supports the carrier for rotation on the sleeve relative to the body, latch mechanism comprising cooperating latch elements on the carrier and body respectively for locking said carrier in any desired one of a plurality of different angular positions relative to the body, one of said wheels being rotatably mounted on said carrier, the other wheel being secured to said shaft to turn therewith upon rotation of the shaft, and means for turning said sleeve relative to the body and immobilized carrier to move said other wheel toward or away from said one wheel.

11. In a can opener of the type having a cutter wheel and a cooperating feed wheel to engage the can, a stationary body member having an opening therethrough, a carrier member beside the body member and having a registering opening therethrough, a shaft extending through said openings, an eccentric sleeve encircling said shaft and supporting same, said sleeve being journaled in said openings whereby it is supported by the body member and supports the carrier member for rotation on the sleeve relative to the body member, a plurality of spacedapart notches in one of said members, a spring-biased detent on the other member adapted to engage different ones of said notches in different angular positions of said carrier member to immobilize the latter relative to the body member, one of said wheels being rotatably mounted on said carrier member, the other wheel being secured to said shaft to turn therewith upon rotation of the shaft in the sleeve, and means for turning said sleeve relative to the body member and the immobilized carrier member to move said other wheel toward or away from said one wheel.

12. In a can opener of the type having a cutter wheel and a cooperating feed wheel to engage the can, a stationary body having an opening therethrough, a carrier beside the body and having a registering opening therethrough, a shaft extending through said openings, an eccentric sleeve encircling said shaft and supporting same, said sleeve being journaled in said openings whereby it is supported by the body and supports the carrier for rotation on the sleeve relative to the body, releasable means for immobilizing said carrier in any desired one of a plura t f e en an u ar pqsit q s re at n the body, one of said wheels being secured to said shaft to turn therewith upon rotation of the shaft in said sleeve, means for turning the sleeve relative to the body for shifting the position of said one wheel, means shiftably supporting the other wheel on said carrier for movement in a direction generally radial to the axis of said sleeve, coacting stop elements on said supporting means and said carrier, respectively, limiting said radial movement, and a biasing spring between said supporting means and said carrier always urging said other wheel toward said axis.

'13. In a can opener, a base mountable in either horizontal or vertical position, a body, can opener mechanism carried by said body and including a pair of relatively movable complementary can cutter elements, said body swivelly mounted on said base whereby the body can be adjusted to bring said cutter elements into generally vertical orientation regardless of whether said base is in horizontal or vertical position, and means for securing the body against movement relative to said base when the body is in adjusted position.

14, In a can opener, a base mountable in either horizontal or vertical position, a body, can opener mechanism carried by said body and including a pair of relatively movable complementary can cutter elements, said body swivelly mounted on said base whereby the body can be adjusted to bring said cutter elements into generally vertical orientation regardless of whether said base is in horizontal or vertical position, and cooperating latch elements on said base and body respectively for'releasably holding the body against movement relative to said base when the body is in adjusted position.

15. In a can opener, a base member mountable in either h ri en a 9 v r ca P sit a ody m m er, an opene mechanism carried by said body member and including a pair of relatively movable complementary can cutter elements, said body member swivelly mounted on said base member whereby the body member can be adjusted to bring said cutter elements into generally vertical orientation regardless of whether said base member is in horizontal or vertical position, a plurality of spaced apart notches in one of said members, and a spring-biased detent on the other member for engaging in any of said notehes to lock the body member against movement relative to said base member when the body member is in adjusted position.

16. In a can opener, a base having thereon means for releasably securing the base to either a vertical or horizontal support, a body, can opener mechanism carried by said body and including a pair of relatively movable complementary can cutter elements, said body swivelly mounted on said base whereby said body can be adjusted to bring said cutter elements into generally vertical orientation regardless of whether said base is secured to a vertical or horizontal support, and means for locking said body against movement relative to the base when the body is in adjusted position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,556,943 Linstedt Oct. 13, 1925 1,783,534 Darque Dec. 2, 1930 2,244,846 Moeller June 10, 1941 2,637,897 Nelson May 12, 1953 

